OK here it is the final FF before the Crypts and Things Kickstarter opens this Sunday March 1st.

Last time out I said that I would talk about the stretch goals.

Stretch 1. More Fiends
About 40 or so, depending how excited I get. This really was my favourite bit of the book last time round, so I’m revving my self up to do this I’m looking to add a few more subtle horrors as well. Things that once the players rush in to fight them, they wish they hadn’t afterwards.

Stretch 2. Spells and Magic items
I’ll still be keeping the familiar vanilla spells in there, since it’s a big design goal that if you are familiar with Old School D&D (or any D&D for that matter) you can easily pick up and play C&T. However there is room and scope to add more spells that really bring White and Black Magic into high-definition, without sacrificing this familiarity. I’ve also 25 or so magic items that didn’t make it into the final cut last time out. They aren’t bad by any means but I had run out of development time. So if we hit this Stretch goal I’ll finish this off. I also want to do intelligent weapons, the right way ! So we are talking Demon Swords and the like, the siblings of Stormbringer.

Stretch 3. Greater Others and their CultistsThese are the big bads of Zarth. These will be presented as a write-up of the warped and twisted religions that follow them, which if relevant will give stats not only of the Greater Other itself, but also the creatures and Cultists that follow it, and associated Magics that come from it.

Stretch 4. Zarth Revealed
I purposely kept the setting, Zarth, light in the original release. Its flavoursome enough to give enough inspiration, but I got a lot of feedback asking for more detail. If we reach this goal, I’ll add a layer of details, such as adventure seeds, important NPCS in a nice Gazeeter.

Addons
As well as the existing Adventures (Blood of the Dragon and Tomb of the Necromancers) I’m also offering up a conversion of the existing OpenQuest adventure Life and Death as an add-on in both pdf and print. This is a four-part epic where the adventurer’s actions decide the very fate of the world. It’s a bit more of a story driven experience than a standard Dungeon Crawl, but there’s lot in-built into the structure to prevent this from being a railroading experience. Also its much bigger than the previous C&T adventures releases clocking in at just over 100 pages.

So that’s it until the Kickstarter starts this Sunday….

Oh except these two character pieces by David M. Wright, the Fighter and Barbarian respectively

Previous posts about Crypts & Things Remastered

Test Your Luck – A preview of a new mechanic that should be familiar to fans of Fighting Fantasy

Art Preview - I show off some of the awesome art already done for the new game by David Micheal Wright.

Why Crypts and Things Remastered? – a bit of the history of the game’s intial development and why I’m redoing it, the scope of the redevelopment and what’s going to be in the stretch goals.

The Sorcerer The revised Magician class (because one of the biggest bits of feedback I got was that I should change the name to the Sorcerer). Look close and you’ll see some of the system changes in the class description.

Magicians of Zarth. Other types of magic users in the setting. Note these are non-player character types, and will be written up as monsters.

As an add-on for the upcoming Crypts and Things Remaster Kickstarter (opens Sunday March 1st). A Crypts & Things version of Life and Death.

NOTE: if you backed the IndieGoGo preorder back in 2011 for the first edition of C&T you’ll get this add-on automatically for free when you back Remastered as a thank you for backing the game the first time round and continuing your support

Ok so it’s not actually Friday, but I’ve asked the Sorcerer to bend time and space so we can have another preview of Crypts and Things Remastered, this time of a new ruling: LUCK.

One thing that began to fall flat with me after a while was having a single Saving Throw Number (as per Swords & Wizardry which C&T is based off). When I was doing my ‘literature review’ for C&T remastered I reread some of the early Fighting Fantasy books, I suddenly remembered Testing Your Luck and how it was a very British way of doing Saving Throws. It also fits nicely with the whole Swords and Sorcery genre. So here’s my expanded version which also allows for Class Based Luck Tests, which gives yet another layer of things that the classes can do.

Note this is a prototype that is going through playtesting with external playtesters at the moment. While feedback so far is overwhelmingly positive, it may get tweaked for the final version.

LUCK
This is a measure of the character’s innate quality to avoid trouble, stumble across useful items and have just the right thing happen at the right time. It is tested over the course of the adventure and decreases as the character gets fatigued and tired. Eventually even the most Lucky character will run out of Luck. To generate Luck roll 1D6 and add six (giving starting range of a range of 7-12). Every three levels add one point of Luck.

TESTING LUCK
During an adventure a character may be asked to “Test their Luck” by the Referee by rolling a 2D6 and getting lower or equal than their current Luck score. If they do so they get Lucky, deduct 1 point from their Luck. If they fail their roll they suffer the consequences of being Unlucky, but do not lose any Luck.
Example situations for Testing Luck

Avoiding or reducing the effects of a spell.

Dodging falling masonry, sweeping blades and other traps.

Avoiding suffering the effects of Poisons or Disease.

Just happening to have an item that the character could reasonably have on their person due to wealth, class and skills.

Luck can also be tested to avoid the adverse effects of a failed skill roll.

For example a character fails a Skill check while jumping a deep ravine. If they succeed a Luck Test they narrowly catch a nearby ledge. Or a Thief misses their Hide roll and is potentially spotted by a passing guard, but on a successful Luck Test the Guard grunts dismissively and moves on.

CLASS BASED LUCK TESTS
Each class has unique ways of using Luck. Unlike usual Luck tests if the character is Unlucky they do not suffer any consequences.

FIGHTERCleave. When a fighter kills an opponent in combat, they can attack an adjacent foe on a successful Luck Test the Fighter has hit the next target. The Fighter can carry on Testing Luck until they fail or run out of adjacent opponents.Maximum Damage. On a successful hit and the Fighter may Test their Luck. If successful then they do Maximum possible damage with their weapon.

THIEF
Thieves are renowned for their lucky nature and they have a very powerful luck that can almost magically bend reality.Improve their situation. Luck can be tested to improve the situation that the Thief is currently in. For example a Thief finds himself manacled in a dismal dungeon cell. On a successful Luck test the Thief finds that the jailer has accidentally forgotten to lock the manacles properly. A Thief can continue to test their luck to improve their situation until they fail.Friends in low places. On a successful Luck test one of the Thieves contacts, either from previous jobs or the communities they work in, appears on the scene to help the Thief out.

SORCERERRetain Spell. The character may test their Luck immediately after casting a Spell. If they are lucky then the character does not forget the spell.Lucky Knowledge. Sorcerers are so steeped in learning lore from dusty old books and obscure sources, that on a successful Luck Test they just knows a fact pertinent to the current situation or can speak an unknown language with just enough linguistic phrases to quickly converse with a creature or decode a piece of writing.

BARBARIANBlood Rage. When a Barbarian takes damage they may Test their Luck. If succeed gain +1 to hit and damage. This bonus adds to other modifiers and can be taken more than once (I.e. each time the Barbarian gets hit they may Test their Luck and a get an additional +1). This means that if they are consistently Lucky a wounded Barbarian can quickly get a large bonus and become quite deadly when hurt.One with the Wilderness. Barbarians are most at home when they are in the wilderness. If they successfully test their Luck they find their way (i.e. stop being lost) and find enough food and water to sustain themselves.

REGAINING LUCKLuck potions/magical effects. Certain magics can restore Luck when activated.
For example: A Potion of Luck (a pale blue liquid in a small glass vial) restores 1D6 Luck when drunk. The Amulet of Skarlos the Slippery (an ancient bronze medallion that only works when worn over a bare chest) can be called to restore 1D4 Luck twice a day.

Through resting. Each full hour fully rested without any interruption restores 1 Luck Point.

After the end of the adventure, all Luck points are restored in time for the next hazardous exploration.

More next Friday…when I preview some of the stretch goal material.

Previous posts about Crypts & Things Remastered

Art Preview - I show off some of the awesome art already done for the new game by David Micheal Wright.

Why Crypts and Things Remastered? – a bit of the history of the game’s intial development and why I’m redoing it, the scope of the redevelopment and what’s going to be in the stretch goals.

The Sorcerer The revised Magician class (because one of the biggest bits of feedback I got was that I should change the name to the Sorcerer). Look close and you’ll see some of the system changes in the class description.

Magicians of Zarth. Other types of magic users in the setting. Note these are non-player character types, and will be written up as monsters.

Empire of Ys is a roleplaying game of worlds-spanning fantasy. The rules are built up from an Old School core based on loosely on the world’s first fantasy roleplaying game, but heavily tailored to fit the setting.

At the centre is the city of Ys, a corrupt and baroque fantasy city occupying a folded dimension of its own. Magical gateways created by the Guild of the Arcane link Ys to other worlds. On some these worlds the city has set up permanent colonies. Ysian raiders, traders and explorers reach further afield. The heart of Ys is rotten. Its overlord, the Autarch, is literally a monster. His immediate underlings, his Agents, sow discord in the city, and can hunt and feed on the city’s less prominent citizens with no fear of punishment. He leaves the apparatus of government and the rule of law to crumble and divides the power structures in the city among conflicted guilds, ensuring that no-one can depose him.

Yet to the adventurous and unscrupulous, Ys presents opportunities as well as dangers. Perhaps a few heroes can even make a difference to the city and its empire as a whole. Welcome to Ys!

Just in case you are worried that OpenQuest is being criminally neglected, art has started to flow in for OpenQuest Adventures and work steadily continues on the Online version of the OpenQuest SRD. I looking to get both finished by the end of this month.

Here’s the Bone King by Simon Bray which graces the Deep in the Hole adventure.

Travel back in time to the 70s/80s using this article on Unplugged Gamers, to withness the birth of Games Workshop at the hands of D&D obbessed Ian Livingstone and Steve Jackson……and learn how they became good at playing Squash